One problem associated with applying prior art auction systems to interactive auctions is that large numbers of bids must be processed in a short space of time for the auction output to be broadcast in real time. Many prior art Internet-based auctions take place over a long period of time, for example over several hours or several days, and the bid frequency is very low, so the problems are no so critical.
However, for an interactive auction that takes place in a short space of time, for example an auction that is simultaneously being televised, there may be a high bid frequency and, in addition, the information output by the auction system, such as the current highest bid and the minimum bid required, must be updated as quickly as possible. Only a fast update of the status of the auction will allow viewers (for example, on the Internet or television) to interact with the process in real time.
A further problem associated with prior art auction systems is that a large number of bids are entered into the auction by each bidder during the course of the auction.
This problem may be exacerbated by the use of proxy bidders or automatic bidding agents. Proxy bids have been used in conventional auctions and an automatic bidding agent is a known feature of prior art automated auction systems, particularly of Internet-based auction systems which take place over a long period of time when the bidder is unlikely to be online. Bidders may deploy an automatic bidding agent to monitor the status of the auction and to make bids, increasing the bid value as necessary up to a pre-defined maximum amount. This allows the bidder to be offline during the auction itself. However, each automatic bidding agent may enter many bids on behalf of a bidder in order to ensure that the auction item is obtained for the lowest possible price and so this system contributes to generating a large number of bids per bidder, most of which will be losing bids. Both the generation of bids by running of the bid agents and the processing of bids contributes to load on the system.
The need to process large numbers of bids quickly enough to provide real time feedback to bidders and update the list of current winners and the increased load on the system due to automatic bidding agents inputting a large number of bids per bidder mean that it is problematic to implement a large real time automated auction using prior art auction systems.